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Sewing Friends: Marta from Do Guincho

﻿Hi! I'm Marta and I'm from Portugal. I live in Guincho, a
beautiful place by the beach near Lisbon. That's why my blog name is doguincho (that's from
guincho). I'm so excited to be here at Project Run and Play sharing
my tutorial!

Thank you so much Liz and Elizabeth for inviting me and
congratulations on this amazing contest!

﻿

﻿

Here is the tutorial for the pleated A-line dresses I made for the last edition of
PR&P!
The instructions are only for the pleats but you can use any A-line pattern you have or draft
your own pattern using a dress you like (that’s what I did).
These pleats can also be done in other projects such as handbags (here is one)
or pillows. And, one day, I will turn them into pockets for a skirt...

Besides the pattern, you will need:
-Fabric (see quantity in the first part of the tutorial)
- Thread matching the fabric color and (optional) thread in a contrasting
color,
- Sewing machine and iron,
- Scissors, pins and hand sewing needles,
- Tape measure, ruler and a water-soluble fabric marker,
- Scotch tape (for an unconventional technique...)

Cutting

Start cutting the fabric having in mind that, in the place where the pleats will be
executed, you'll need a piece of fabric 3 times wider than the final width of the dress in that
same area. This dress will have 9 pleats and each one will be 1cm wide, ie:3 x 9
pleats x 1cm wide = 27cmIt means that a pieceof fabric with 27cm is required, to obtain a final width of 9cm at the place where the
pleats will be done. You can adapt the original pattern to this version of the dress,
simply subtracting the total width of the fabric necessary to form the pleats with the final
width of the pleats (because that final width is actually already included in the pattern),
ie:27cm - 9cm = 18cmIn conclusion, you will need to add 18cm to the original
pattern in order to make the 9 pleats without changing the width of the
dress.

At this stage, it is not necessary to cut the fabric in the neck area according
to the original pattern. It is better to leave some extra fabric, cutting it in
a straight line, and "trimming it" only after finishing the pleats.

PleatingFor the
pleating, you should start by tracing the vertical lines that define all the pleats. Trace them
on the right side of the fabric with a water-soluble fabric marker (or use your daughter’s
super-washable pens, as I do!)As this dress pleats are 1cm wide, the tracing should be
done like this: starting at one edge, trace 0.5cm, then 2cm and 1cm and then trace
alternately spaces with 2cm and 1cm. When you reach the other edge you should have a
final space 0.5cm
wide.

It is also time
to trace the pleats’ height. To do this you will need the dress pattern. Start marking the
lowest point of the collar (don’t forget to deduct the seam allowance). Then mark the
pleats’ horizontal upper edge, roughly 1cm or 1.5 cm below that neck line mark you did
earlier. And finally, mark the pleats’horizontal lower edge. This dress will have 7 folds, 2cm
height each, so the total height is
14cm.

Make the pleats folding the fabric (wrong sides together) with the 2cm marks
aligned. Pin and sew with running stitch along the traced line of each pleat. Do not forget to
finish off the seam at the bottom end. I usually like to handmade this (because I'm kind of
picky ...) but it is perfectly fine to finish it with the sewing machine. In this dress, the upper
end of the seam does not need to be finished off as it will be cut out later (when
assembling the dress this will be where the main fabric and the lining fabric will be sewn
together in order to form the neck line). Repeat this step with all the
pleats.

The pleats are made! Now it’s time to "flatten" them. Start by
holding the fabric tight to the ironing board with some pins. Then iron each
pleat trying to distribute the fabric evenly to both sides of the stitching (if
you are using plastic headed pins, be careful not to iron them!). When finished,
the pleats should touch each other, without ever overlapping themselves, and
have a homogeneous look.

FinishingFor sewing the
horizontal lines that define the pleats you should try an unconventional
technique ... Instead of attaching the pleats with pins and marking the sewing
line with a water-soluble fabric marker, try using scotch tape. The scotch tape
is a "two in one" tool as it keeps the pleats in place and it also works
as a guiding line.
You should definitely try this! Cut 7 strips of scotch tape and stick them to
the fabric at the exact place where the pleats are supposed to be (use the
marks you did earlier with the help of the pattern). Now sew carefully in between
the strips of scotch tape, starting and ending just before and just after each
pleat. Hand finish each one of the seam lines.

Remove the scotch tape and iron the pleats (this will be the last time you will
be able to do it!).

The pleats’ "pitching" technique is all handmade. Start inserting the
needle, back to front, in the center of the pleat, then insert it in one side edge
and then on the other, and pull the thread in order to join those edges. Then
just make a few more stitches to attach those edges tight together and finish
it with a little knot at the wrong side of the fabric.

Repeat this for the remaining pleats. It is a bit time consuming technique, but it is also great
to see the fabric getting three-dimensional ...

SewingYou can now return to the original pattern by putting it on top of the
pleated fabric, so you can trim the neck line to the right shape. Then just
follow the instructions to finish the dress.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel
free to tell me!
Have a great time sewing! (Can’t wait to see you’re results!)

I am so excited that you did a tutorial for these pleats. I fell in love with them during Project Run & Play. I think the results are just so beautiful. Also, I had the opportunity to visit Lisbon for a couple days, and I would love to go back sometime. It was absolutely beautiful and interesting and the Pasteis de Belem were delicious!

It looks kind of like smocking. I was a little confused near the beginning when it says to press pleats are they opened up and pressed flat? I was thinking this would be the only way both sides of the pleat would come up when doing the handstitching. I had just assumed the ones on the left were pressed flat to the left and the ones on the right were pressed flat to the right? But then this wouldn't look right when you go to do the hand stitching. If the poster of this is long gone to answer, perhaps another poster here could answer my question if you understand what I am trying to say?

Great tute. Thank you. I would like to practice this by sewing a decorative pillow. Think of a striped fabric. One color would be under the pleat. It would only show when you did the hand work at the end. Wow! I'll have to try this. Thanks again.